Dredd - Thoughts

I was a little surprised when I first heard of this movie, as it was near release day, and I’d have thought there’d be more pre release promo material and trailers. Though unfamiliar with the comic 2000 AD, I had watched the 1995 Judge Dredd movie with Sylvester Stallone, and remember liking it. The post apocalyptic future and the new hybrid law enforcement system of judge, juror and executioner rolled into one, quite appealing to me. In this iteration, Dredd, one of the toughest law enforcement Judges goes against a gang and their perverse leader Ma-Ma, in an effort to uphold the law.

The opening sequence of the movie with the narration, kinda sets the stage for the dystopian future, and aids in quickly involving the audiences with the theme at play. While you will hear of Mega Cities and Mega Structures, what you won’t hear is that Dredd is Mega Violent! There are several action sequences, some pretty intense ones, and a good deal of blood and carnage. I usually don’t care for extreme gore, and I find the likes of movies such as Hostel quite putting off; that said, I found the violence here in keeping with the theme of the movie, the state of decay of the society, and the limited value for life. So I can’t complain. The pace of the movie is nothing short of riveting, with no time to breath as the movie picks up. From the get go to the closing credits, the movie was non-stop, and that in some sense is synonymous to the relentless pursuit of justice that the Dredd character embodies. If like me you enjoy action; you’ll probably enjoy the 2012 iteration of Dredd. The action sequences are awesome, with the trio chain-gun scene being standout. The setting, the mega-city, and the mega-structure within which the bulk of the movie happens, has a mood, which coupled with the ambiance and sound enthralled me. Dredd is a dark, gripping, and gritty action extravaganza you’ll quite enjoy.

The lead role of Judge Dredd is played by Karl Urban, whose face you will incidentally never see, in keeping with the comic. So giving little weight to facial expression, and limiting the evaluation to dialog delivery, and body language, the performance was pretty good. Urban is cold and mechanical, which per the comic is the accurate representation of the Judge Dredd character. For this assignment Dredd is assigned a rookie partner, Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby. She does an admirable job as the fresh out of the academy rookie, who is new to the grim violence of Mega City 1. Lena Headey performed the role of Ma-Ma, the head of the crime syndicate in control of the mega-structure, and is fabulous as the twisted, ruthless, psycho-vamp. She comes across as hardened and scorned, which is fitting based on her back-story. As an actress Lena Headey has phenomenal range, and usually does splendidly in intense and powerful roles; Ma-Ma being no exception to her filmography.

As much as I’d have liked to watch this one in the theatre, in 3D, due to its limited worldwide success, it exited the theatres quickly, and I had to wait to get my hands on the DVD and check it out. The DVD I sampled was an India spec Region 5 DVD, but thankfully there were no issues in terms of quality. Video was clear, and even in the dark scenes there was decent definition. The sound was unparalleled, giving life to the mood and ambience of the main mega-structure. Positional sound, and ambient sounds totally wowed me, and the gun fire as plentiful as it was, was well supported. Among the special features on the disk was a Dredd prequel motion comic which is worth the watch; it adds to the story and makes for a dark violent comic companion to the motion picture. .  

My Recommendation: Watch It + (Mega Action, Dredd Style, in Mega City 1)